Best of Southern Brazil: Curitiba, Paraty, Porto Alegre, Santa Catarina Coast, Balneario Camboriu, Bombinhas, Serra Gaucha & European Heritage : A 2026 First-Person Guide
Browse more guides: Brazil travel | Americas destinations Best of Southern Brazil: Curitiba, Paraty, Porto Alegre, Santa Catarina Coast, Balneario Camboriu, Bombinhas, Serra Gaucha & European Heritage : A 2026 First-Person Guide TL;DR I planned my first long swing through Southern Brazil expecting samba, beach towels and tropical heat. I left with a notebook full of Italian winery receipts, photos of half-timbered German bakeries, the GPS coordinates of a UNESCO colonial port I could not believe still existed, and a stomach permanently changed by churrasco rodízio. Southern Brazil is the part of the country most travellers skip, and that is exactly why it deserves the deep-dive treatment I am giving it here. The region covers three states: Paraná (capital Curitiba), Santa Catarina (capital Florianópolis), and Rio Grande do Sul (capital Porto Alegre). Together they make up roughly 577,000 km² with about 29 million residents. Add Paraty (technically in Rio de Janeiro state but ...